Once again, a big thank you to everyone who helped me raised $500 for charity to the Cambodian Kids Foundation and Melbourne's City2Sea race! The race was early Sunday morning, and conveniently just around the corner from the apartment where I was staying with John and Jenny. There was music playing and so much good energy in the air! The race felt surprisingly long, for only 14k (about 9 miles), every kilometer felt so much longer than usual! And my knees started to give out at about 5k, which meant that it was a fairly painful run, but still fun. The course ended at St. Kilda's, at Port Philip Bay, right on the beach. I had a great finish and sprinted the last 500 meters, one of my favorite things to do since XC back in high school! I spent the rest of the morning recovering, getting free stuff and hanging out in the Movember tent, having a few beers and food. I was with four guys, my coworker Cal and his mates, all of whom are fundraising for Movember, and raising awareness by growing moustaches! The night before the five of us got a fabulous dinner at Trunk in Melbourne's CBD.
I spent the rest of the day exploring Melbourne on my own, walking (or more like hobbling) around Chapel St, which is one of the best shopping districts in the country. Little boutiques with fabulous but affordable shopping on Chapel St, which extends from the Yarra River down to Prahran. Melbourne is easily one of my favourite cities. With the wide boulevards, the comprehensible tram system, endless shops and quirky neighborhoods, it has been such a pleasure to be back in this lovely city. I wouldn't mind living here one day. Beats the chaotic frenzy in Sydney!
Incrrrrrredible day up in the Blue Mountains last Saturday, canyoning and abseiling with the High n' Wild guide company (check out the Summer Canyoning video on their website!) The Blue Mountains, less than 3 hrs from Sydney, are a World Heritage Site for its diversity of eucalyptus species and the biodiversity around this tree's adaptability in such a climate.
Cal organized a group of about 24 students (all girls, except for Cal and Julian) and since this was big enough for two groups, my trip was comped (so awesome). Getting out to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains is actually not bad, considering the expensive train fares within the city. A return trip to Katoomba, a 2.5 hr trip, is only $11. Which means...I'm officially going to the mountains a lot more often!
Our guides Roberta and Evan taught us the basics of abseiling (rappelling). For the first time, I felt like I actually knew what I was doing! It was no longer Olivier teaching me how to do things like rappel or anchor for the first time... I felt comfortable doing it, even if my last serious climb was back in May.
While the novices practiced abseiling on a rockface, Cal and I enjoyed making faces with sticks and taking funny pictures on Julian's camera (oops). Our first cliff was a 15m drop, I absolutely LOVED the heights and the adrenaline rush you get from standing over a cliff! Our next feat was double that height, standing 30m over a a cliff where your feet are only on the rock for about 5m before you hit a giant overhang. Without a rockface to plant your feet as you descend, you just kind of dangle in mid-air, twirl around and enjoy the view. The view from up there is absolutely stunning-- the Blue Mountains are so named because of the abundance of eucalyptus trees, which give off a chemical that appears blue to the human eye. In the distance, the mountains (which look more like plateaus here and there) have this glowing, blue haze to them. The combination with the blue sky, green trees and the sandstone cliffs is breathtaking.
Quick stop for lunch before we hit the canyon. It was quite difficult to manage the hundreds of steps down to the canyon and Empress Falls with what felt like a food baby in my belly. The farther down we climbed, the trees and leaves went from hard and brittle to a lush rainforest that smelled of tea tree oil and fresh dirt. We spotted a lyrebird, a bird that been around for millions of years and is known for digging up dirt and causing the steep hillsides of the forest (a lyrebird can move up to 62 tons of dirt a year!)
We got on our wetsuits, which was probably the most difficult thing I did all day...not an easy task. My wettie was wayyyy too small on me, Roberta was lifting me up entirely as she was trying to pull it up over my knees. Ha! What a disaster. We filled our helmets up with water and dumped them on our heads to increase our overall body temp (also makes it easier to get in the water if your head is wet).
Empress Falls, our last 30m rappel
Our first pool we had to jump backwards off a rock, that is stand on this rock facing away from the water, jump out and try and land on our backs. So much fun! I went first. We jumped from one pool to another, it was SO much fun, although the water was so frigid that it felt like the air was getting knocked out of you. Before the 30m drop, there were two more pools that were fun for jumping and swimming. The best part was the end, where in order to get out of the canyon, you had to abseil down Empress Falls, a 30m drop into a pool below. Amazing! I was the first one in my group to get it started, since I need to get these things over with rather than be standing over a cliff in anticipation and fear. Also, I was just really cold. But I didn't want it to end! It was so much fun, with the water splashing down. At the end, you could do a big jump off the waterfall-- Roberta would let go simultaneously as you from your rope and you'll drop into the water.
Just as rewarding was watching our fellow canyoneers coming down the abseil, some of them struggled more than others! We had a good laugh..
Then for the lonnng hike back up alllll. those. stairs. This time I had the pleasure of carrying the 100m wet, heavy rope up on my back. But we were soon rewarded with a stunning view (what you'll see at the end of the video, when I'm drinking my water bottle). Cal, Julian and I went to a little Indian restaurant that was in the middle of nowhere and in an old house, weird, but the food was UNREAL. I haven't had such good Indian food since I was in India!
We booked it to the train station after finding out that we had only one train left to get back to the city.
Sunday afternoon I took the train down the Illawarra line to Woonona, to celebrate with beautiful Amanda and her friends at her bachelorette party. Here, they call it a Hens Party (and a bachelor's party is a Bucks party... don't ask me why) We were served fresh cocktails by naked butlers (well, almost naked. They wore little aprons) and played all sorts of hilarious games. My favorite was the wedding dress design, where we had to make a wedding dress with two rolls of toilet paper and some tinsel. Our model, lovely Julie the maid of honour, looked great...until Amanda pushed her in the pool!
**Pour mes amis francais: samedi j'ai fait du rappel et du canyon avec des amies dans les Montagnes Bleues, 3 hrs de Sydney. Les montagnes sont magnifiques, avec une brume bleue partout. Cette couleur est grace à les eucalypts qui donnent une couleur bleue. Le matin, on a fait des rappels de 15m et 30m pour s'améliorer à le hauteur et de maitriser un rappel. Dans l'apres-midi, on a fait un petit canyon, avec des sauts sympas, des chutes d'eau, et un grand rappel dans un cascade!!! Regardez le video pour avoir une idée du grandeur du canyon... Trop bien!!!
It's the race that stops the nation! Melbourne Cup is the biggest horse race in Australia, and practically a national holiday since nearly everything stops for the afternoon to watch the glorified race.
Let me start by saying that when I first arrived here in Australia, I thought the Melbourne Cup was another name for the AFL Rugby Final (my coworkers got a good laugh outta that one. It's like mixing up Mardi Gras and the Superbowl.)
As is tradition, we closed up shop here at BU at 12:30 and headed to this fancy-schmancy Spanish tapas, Postales, right in the heart of the CBD. The ladies typically wear fancy hats made by milliners, or fascinators (like a fancy headband). Here is a photo from last year's Melbourne Cup of the models outside our venue at Martin Place.
Mr. Best Dressed
Melbourne Cup is always the first Tuesday of November, which happened to be Nov 1st this year and the day after Halloween. We all stopped at the TAB betting shops to place our bets on which horse we thought would win. Cal set up a sweeps for our staff to take part in (when you place a $2 bet and randomly draw a horse), and I placed a $5 bet (first one!) on horse named Americain. Melbourne Cup, I realized, is not so much about the race but about all the event surrounding the race: fancy hats, fancy 3-course lunches, betting on a horse, winning prizes, fun venues and a general excuse just to drink. At our fancy schmancy venue, there were models showing off fancy hats, gift bags with oodles of certificates and coupons to fancy places I could never afford, and lots and lots of champagne!
The closest race in its history!
Cal won "Best Dressed Male" third year in a row and subsequently, a magnum of Veuve-Clicquot champagne. The race started at 3pm, and was so exciting! I don't think I've ever properly watched a horse race, but when you've actually got a bet on a horse to win, then it's so much more exciting! The thumping of the horses' hooves gets your heartbeat racing, and the excitement builds as the horses charge for the finish line and all bets are off. This year, a French horse Dunaden came out of nowhere to win the race. They say it was the closest race in the Cup's 150 year history, with Dunaden coming in by less than a hair. It took officials three or four agonizing minutes to decide who won the race!
